1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, upon heating a fixing unit with a heater, if expected increase in temperature of the fixing unit is not achieved within a certain time, the thermistor that detects the temperature of the fixing unit is judged to be abnormal. If the thermistor is judged to be abnormal, the operation of the heater is stopped to prevent heating of the fixing unit to an undesirable high temperature. Such a technology has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-27863.
In the above technology, although abnormality of the thermistor can be detected in a short time just after turning on the power of the image forming apparatus, abnormality of the thermistor cannot be detected in a short time at other times. Thus, there is a need of a technology that can detect abnormality of the thermistor in a short time even at other times.